Connecting with Hispanics
Some insight that I’ve picked up over the years. Following are some observations that I’ve made in the past regarding the Hispanic market and its intricacies. I hope that such insight is of value to you. But before I point out those observations, I must preface my comments with the following: To gain an ongoing foothold in that demographic segment of the population, a business or an organization must have in place a genuine, long-term plan that effectively attends to the varied needs of those potential customers. To create a winning strategy, according to what I’ve seen, the interested entities must also formulate that plan using feedback from Hispanic people whose cultural traits match those of the demographic subsegments that are being targeted.
"Connecting culturally with customers of Hispanic origin requires more than just having a Cinco de Mayo sale or a Día de los Niños event. It requires relationship building, having a bilingual staff, and..."
The art of making the customer feel welcome. When it comes to growing a long-term retail or service customer base by a small or large business, in any demographic, the number one requirement has to do with treating everyone, including the employees, with dignity and respect. Another requirement has to do with making people feel welcome. Those two top priorities are even more important when dealing with the Hispanic demographic, a customer base that tends to be more loyal than the general market. According to several studies, Hispanics also tend to become customers for life once won over, especially when a retail business or service provider offers such a welcoming environment.
The cultural connections that matter. Connecting culturally with customers of Hispanic origin requires more than just having a Cinco de Mayo sale or a Día de los Niños event. It requires relationship building, having a bilingual staff, and above all else, having the sought after products and services that fill some of the needs of that segment of the general market. Those three ingredients, incidentally, help build trust, a fundamental core value that is part of the business-customer relationship. Based on what I have seen over the years as I’ve helped businesses gain a foothold in the Hispanic market, the best way to connect with customers from that demographic is through trust.
Crass commercialism and cultural appropriation. Unfortunately, some attempts to connect culturally with the Hispanic market are carried out incorrectly and often with just profit making in mind. Take Día de los Muertos, for example, an occasion that is increasingly being used by some retailers to increase sales. The annual event is sometimes compared to a sort of Mexican Halloween, which is not. That occurrence is more of a sacred and personal time to honor the deceased. Especially with people of Mexican heritage. Visiting the cemetery, building an altar, or paying some kind of tribute to souls gone are some of the ways people celebrate that special day. If you were to ask me, it’s certainly not a time to try to sell more stuff.
Too many mariachis and too much folkloric dancing. Hispanic culture is much more than fiestas and partying, or than festive events where songs are sung by folks dressed in fancy costumes or where dancing troupes do the zapateado. The varied Hispanic culture is much, much more than that. It’s also about families and friends getting together just for the fun of it. To be with family and with friends. It is also about doing things as a team, like assembling piles of tamales at the end of the year. It’s also about abuelitas (grandmas) telling stories that recall how it was then, in the old days. Or about celebrating the offspring as they triumph in life. Not knocking down mariachis or folkloric dancing. Just trying to make a point.
The diverse Hispanic culture. Though people of Mexican origin make up more than three fifths of the Hispanic population in the United Sates, which makes that demographic subsegment very important, people of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Central American descent also matter much. Those subsegments make up three tenths of that demographic. Then you have the South Americans and other Caribbeans. Talk about a diverse cultural background that must be taken into account when trying to reach Hispanic customers. True, they all have somewhat of a recent or old link to a Spanish speaking world, yet, there’s something truly important about Hispanics: semantics matter. A word used in one country, for example, might mean one thing there but something completely different in other countries. Which takes me to my last point: that potential incongruence must be considered when creating content for a TV or print ad or a billboard. There’s no need to convey the wrong message when trying to win over some of those potential and diverse Hispanic customers. We at HispanoSapient help with that stuff. Semantics matter to us, too.
Till next time. Hasta luego.